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The Future of Consumption

“We have only borrowed the world from our children” is a favorite saying. The implication is that if you’ve borrowed something you should return it as unchanged as possible. However, be honest: Who would like to take back the world as it was 150 years ago?

Trade Routes

In the center of Tbilisi, a farmer sells his potatoes from the trunk of his car. This is an everyday scene in the capital of Georgia. About 50 percent of all Georgians work in the agricultural sector, and most of them cultivate small parcels of land. They produce food for their own use, and what they don’t consume they barter or sell—in markets, under bridges or from their cars.

It’s the busy season at the Amazon logistics center in Peterborough in eastern England. The center is about as big as seven soccer fields. Over 1,000 people are permanently employed here, and in the run-up to Christmas they are assisted by an army of temporary workers. Logistics centers are the heart of the company. Everything has to run smoothly here in order to guarantee short delivery times.

At this market in Ghana, you can buy just about anything, from cooking pots to live animals. The market is colorful, chaotic, and noisy. Women carry their purchases on their heads, and 20 kilos or more are no problem. Of course that’s not as easy as it looks, but in Ghana girls learn this art at an early age. One of the tricks is to wind your headscarf correctly so that your basin is properly balanced.

A popular photo motif is the camel statues in the Arabian Court of the Dubai Mall, a shopping mall of superlatives. Its sales area of 350,000 square meters makes it one of the world’s biggest malls, and its 1,200 shops ranging from Armani to Zara make it one of the most luxurious. Its three-story-high aquarium has even been listed in the Guinness World Records. Its front panel is 11 meters high and 75 centimeters thick.

Consumption has many facets. In this series, we show you four of them, ranging from a street trader in Georgia to a glamorous shopping mall in Dubai